Preparation of triiodothyronine



2,993,928 PREPARATION or TRIIODOTHYRONINE Raj Kumar Razdan, Greenford, and Lewis Aubrey Wetherill, Harrow, England, assignors to Glaxo Labo ratories Limited, Greenford, England No Drawing. Filed Jan. 14', 1958, Ser. No. 708,74

Claims priority, application Great Britain Jan. 15, 1957 4 Claims. (Cl. 260-519) This invention is concerned with improvementsin or" taining the ammonia or suitable organic base, preferably in substantial excess, and alkali metal ions, and cooling, the solution whereupon the desired salt or salt-like complex crystallises out. The preferred [alkali metal ions are sodium or potassium ions and may be present in for example the form of a soluble alkali metal salt. The

formation of the salt or salt-like complex may for exused herein to include both the L- andD-isomers' there I of as well as mixtures of these isomers unless otherwise stated.

It is known to prepare triiodothyronine by the selective iodination of diiodothyronine using" l-r'nol of iodine, in the presence of ammonia or an organic'li'ase. ,In genoral, however, although 1 mol of iodine is" used the crude It has been proposed (see Gross and Pitt Rivers J.

Biochem, 1953, 53, 645) to purify the'crud'e product by suspending it in a large volume of hot aqueous hydrochloric acid (in which triiodothyronine is only sparingly soluble) and after removing the thyroxine' present by filtering off its hydrochloride, which is insoluble, cooling the filtrate and allowing the triiodothyronine hydrochloride to crystallize out. The triiodothyronine hydrochloride can be filtered off, the more soluble diiodothyronine hydrochloride remaining in solution in the filtrate. This process of purification is not very efficient, requires at least two treatment steps and the use of large volumes of hydrochloric acid. Furthermore in order to effect substantially complete recovery of the triiodothyronine in the purification it is necessary to extract the insoluble thyroxine hydrochloride with a further quantity of hot hydrochloric acid as some of the triiodothyronine hydrochloride precipitates with the'thyroxine hydrochloride when this is filtered 01f. y

We have now found an improved method of freeingtriiodothyronine from contaminating diiodothyronine and/or thyroxine which is based upon our discovery that triiodothyronine forms with ammonia or certain suitable organic bases and alkali metal ions a well-defined salt or salt-like substance which is capable of ready recrystallization, and can readily be separated firom the contaminating diiodothyronine and/ or thyroxine by difference in solubility, particularly in water. p

The organic bases which form the said salt or salt-1ike complex with triiodothyronine and alkali metal ions and which are for convenience hereinafter referred to as suitable organic bases are primary and secondary amines having apK greater than 7.2; particularly suitable bases are primary and secondary amines containing from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, for example methylamine, ethylamine, dimethylamine, diethylamine, isopropylamine and butylamine.

According to the invention therefore we provide a process for the purification of crude triiodothyronine from contaminating diiodothyronine and/or thyroxine ample take place at room temperatures of from 15-35 C. whilst cooling to a temperature between 5-15 C. will generally cause precipitation of the desired compound. Obviously the exact temperatures and procedure to be used will depend upon the concentration of the reaction components and other factors and the optimum conditions must be determined by experiment in any particular case.

The purification procedure according to the invention is most convenient for application to the purification of triiodotliyronine directly upon its formation by the iodination of diiodothy-ronine. Thus this iodination is very conveniently efiected by reaction of the diiodothyronine Witha solution containing one molecular proportion of iodine in an aqueous alkali metal iodide in the presence of ammonia or a suitable organic base as herein defined, conveniently at temperatures within the range 15-35" C.; mere cooling of the resultant reaction solution, provided it' is' ofappropri-ate concentration will ingeneral cause precipitation of the desired salt or salt-likeicomplex of triiodothyronine which can be separated and further? purifie'd'as desired. Whilst ammonia can be used in the actual iodination procedure, for reasons of safety it is in" factpreferable to use an organic base. Ammonia can'- of course safely be used in the purification of crude triiodothyronine itself. p

' eresulfiant salt or salt-like complex can be recrystallis'ed' preferably from an aqueous solution containing nionia or the appropriate organic base respectively and alkali metal ions. The triiodothyronine itself maybe re covered from the salt or salt-like complex by dissolving in alkali and acidifying.

The nature of the salt of triiodothyronine which is formed in the process according to the invention is somewhat obscure Onpresent knowledge is appears that the ammonia or organic base is very loosely bound to the triio'dothyronine molecule; the salt also appears to contain a substantial proportion of alkali-metal io'ns apparently derived from the alkali-metal iodide in which the iodine used in the iodination is dissolved. It should however clearly be understood that this view of the nature of, the salt may be subject to modification in view of later knowledge. It is" clear, however, that an exact knowledge of the nature of the triiodothyronine salt is which com-prises forming a salt or salt-like complex becarried out by forming an aqueous solution, if necessary with heating, of the crude triiodothyronine in water connot essential to an understanding of the invention, which, as will be appreciated, provides inter alia a simple and effective process for the simultaneous preparation and purification of triiodcthyronine. V V .l...

In order that the invention may-be well understood the following examples are given by way of illustration only: I Y 7 I EXAMPLE 1 Preparation of triiodo llthyrortihe Diiodo-L-thyronine .(682 g.) was dissolved in ethylamine solution (6.95 l. of 3 5 aqueous solutionlin a 20 1. Z-necked flask. The solution was stirred vigorously and 2.6 1. of N iodine solution in aqueous sodium iodide (183 g./litre) were added from a separating funnel over l bour; Temperature of the reaction mixturewa's'ca. 30 C.

When all the iodine had been added the solution was cooled to 10 C. when a salt of triiodo-L-thyronine crystallised. This was filtered ofi through a jacketed, stain- Patented July 25 v 1961 of diiodo-L-thyronine was dissolved in a dilute solution of an appropriate amine (or ammonia) and purified triiodo-L-thyronine obtained as a crystalline salt by the addition of a saturated sodium chloride solution and cooling to 7-10 C. The results are given in the table below.

Quantity of diiodo- Percent Theo IrthYl'O diiodo- Percent retical Expt. nine and L-thyro- Volume of diiodo- Total Sodium Net value No. triiodonine used base used L-thyro- Na as Na ior one L-thyroin e nine in NaOl atom nine mixture the salt of Na mixture used, g.

6 10. 0 10. 0 40 ml. of 2. 0 3. 5 0. 4 3. 1

22% ethylamine solution. 7..-.--..- 7. 7 9.1 105 ml. 0t 2. 0 3. 4 0. 1 3. 3 3. 4

a 21% ethanolamine soiution.

8 10. 0 10.0 140 mi. of 5.0 5. 2 0. 65 6. 1

diethylemine solution. 9 10. 0 10. 0 220 ml. of 2. 0 5. 4 1. 0 4.4

20% ammonia soiution.

V The triiodo-L-thyronine salt was dissolved in sodium hyroxide solution (6 l. of 0.5 N solution) and the solution clarified. Triiodo-L-thyronine was then precipitated by neutralising the liquors to pH 6.5 by the addition of hydrochloric acid. The precipitated triiodo-L-thyronine was filtered ofi and washed by slurrying with water. It was :refiltered andv dried at 80 in a Mitchell oven. Yield- 662.5 g. Moisture content -=1.9%. Yield from diiodo-l' ,-thyronine=95.7% w./w. or 77.2% of theory. .The mother liquors and washings from the crystallisation of the salt were neutralised to pH 4.5'with hydrochloric acid to precipitate the remaining iodo-L-thyronines (117 g.).

; Analysis: Loss at 105 C. 1.6%, diiodo-L-thyronine content 40%, iodine 53.7%.

' EXAMPLE 2 The iodination of diiodo-L-thyronine was carried out in themanner described in Example 1 but using the bases mentioned below in place of ethylamme. The results were as follows:

Per- Per cent of Vol.0i cent of Diiodo- Diiodo- 1 N Diiodo- L- L- Iodine L-. thyro- .Expt. Base Used Volume of thyro- Soluthyronine No, base used nine, tion nine when gins. Added, on the isoml. isolated lated asthe salt tree acid 1. Methylmi. as 26 1.0 3.0 i. amine. 33% solution. 2 Dimethylmi. 6.8 26 2.0 4.0

amine. solu tlon. 3 Diethyl- 100 mi.-as 6.8 26 5.0 13.0 mine. 20% soluon. w 4....-.-. Isopropyl- ..do 6.8 26 6.0 30.0 amine. t 5. Buty do 6. 8 26 2. 0 9. 0

. i 1 EXAMPLE 3 1 Crudentriiodo-L-thyronine containing approximately When potassium chloride was added in place of sodium chloride using ethylamine as the organic base as in experiment 6; the salt had the following analysis:

- Percent Total K 5.7 i K as KCl 0.25 Net- K 5.2 Theoretical potassium content 5.6

,Weclaimi 1. A process for the purification of crude triiodothyro- I ninecontaining contaminating amounts of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of diiodothyronine and thyroxine, said triiodothyronine being obtained by iodinating diiodothyronine in an aqueous mediumcontaining alkali metal ions and a basic compoundselected from a group consisting of ammonia, a primary amine having a pK, greater than 7.2 and a secondary amine having a pK greater than 7.2, whereby a complex is formed in situ by reaction or" triiodothyronine as it is formed with said ions and said basic compound, which process comprises maintaining said aqueous medium at a temperature of l5-35 C. to keep said complex and said contaminating compound in solution and subsequently cooling said aqueous medium to precipitate said complex without precipitating said contaminating compound.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 in which the basic compound is at least one amine selected from a group consisting of methylamine, ethylamine, dimethylamine, diethylamine, isopropylamine and butylamine.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 in which the triiodothyronine is triiodo-L-thyronine.

4. A process as claimed in claim 1 in which the complex is separated by cooling the reaction medium to a temperature of from 5-15 C.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS iPlati et al Mar. 5, 1957 Pitt-Rivers et a1 Feb. 11, 1958 

1. A PROCESS FOR THE PURIFICATION OF CRUDE TRIIODOTHYRONINE CONTAINING CONTAMINATING AMOUNMTS OF AT LEAST ONE COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF DIIODOTHYRONINE AND THYROXINE, SAID TRIIODOTHYRONINE BEING OBTAINED BY IDODINATING DIIODOTHYRONINE IN AN AQUEOUS MEDIUM CONTAINING ALKALI METAL IONS AND A BAIS COMPOUND SELECTED FROM A GROUP CONSISTING OF AMMONIA, A PRIMARY AMINE HAVING A PKH GREATER THAN 7.2, WHEREBY SECONDARY AMINE HVING A PKH GRETER THAN 7.2, WHEREBY A COMPLEX IS FORMED IN SITU BY REACTION OF TRIIODOTHYRONINE AS IT IS FORMED WITH SAID IONS AND SAID BASIC COMPOUND, WHICH PROCESS COMPRISES MAINTAINING SAID AQUEOUS MEDIUM AT A TEMPERATURE OF 15-35*C. TO KEEP SAID COMPLEX AND SAID CONTAMINATING COMPOUND IN SOLUTION AND SUBSEQUENTLY COOLING SAID AQUEOUS MEDIUM TO PRECIPITATE SAID COMPLEX WITHOUT PRECIPITATING SAID CONTAMINATING COMPOUND. 